Wimbledon 2023: Carlos Alcaraz's father accused of filming Novak Djokovic's practice in tennis 'Spygate'
Remember when the New England Patriots were accused of secretly filming the New York Jets' defensive signals during the early-to-mid 2000s in what would infamously be known as "Spygate?" Well, a somewhat similar scandal hit tennis this week when Carlos Alcaraz's father reportedly filmed Novak Djokovic's practices at Wimbledon, according to Serbian news outlet b92.
It's not exactly the same thing, but Djokovic (who is from Serbia) later asked for more privacy during his practice sessions.
"You know your rivals are there, you know everyone is looking over your shoulder at what's going on, what you're working on," Djokovic said this week. "Every shot is measured, evaluated and assessed. That, through some analysis, affects the eventual meeting with Alcaraz or anyone."
Now, it should be noted that Djokovic and Alcaraz both trained at the same practice courts Monday. And while Alcaraz later admitted his father "probably" filmed Djokovic, he said he doesn't believe it was done with malicious intent nor would it give the 20-year-old Spaniard a competitive advantage if the two were to meet in the Wimbledon final.
“My father is a huge fan of tennis,” Alcaraz said Wednesday when asked. “He doesn’t only watch my matches. I think he gets into the club at 11 a.m., gets out at 10 p.m., watching matches, watching practice from everyone. Being able to watch Djokovic in real life, yeah, probably it is true he’s filmed the sessions.
"I have a lot of videos from Djokovic on every platform," Alcaraz added. "I think it’s not an advantage for me.”
Djokovic and Alcaraz both still have semifinal matches to play before a potential meet-up. Alcaraz, the top seed at Wimbledon, will play No. 3 Daniil Medvedev, while the second-seeded Djokovic will play No. 8 seed Jannik Sinner.
